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Bevin and Beshear gear up for tug of war over Kentucky roots vs. Trump ties at Fancy Farm

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Christina Whittemore, a Democrat from Mayfield, used a Reagan poster as a sunbonnet yesterday during the 100th annual Fancy Farm political barbecue. This was her 60th Fancy Farm. Photo published Aug 3, 1980. Melissa Farlow, The Courier-Journal

A veteran of mor ethan 50 of the famous Fancy Farm political picnics, J.C. Holland, of Wingo, makes himself comfortable against a tree and listens carefully as office-seekers make their points. Photo published Aug 6, 1967. PUBLICATION PROHIBITED
Authority to publish or copy MUST be obtained from Courier-Journal management. To obtain permission call 502-582-4601. 525 W. Broadway, Louisville, KY 40201. C. Thomas Hardin, The Courier-Journal

Dick Ernst of Frankfort found that his campaign sign worked well as a sun shade yesterday as he listened to Gov. John Y. Brown Jr. at the Fancy Farm Picnic in Western Kentucky. More than 1,000 people turned out. Photo published Aug 8, 1982. Bill Kight, The Courier-Journal

Morris Cecil, 13, of Bowling Green, held a Ray White sign yesterday from atop The Stump at Fancy Farm. Folks say, way back when, the politicians used to mount the stump to do their orating. Photo published Aug 6, 1978. Stewart Bowman, The Courier-Journal

U.S. Sen. Wendell Ford, left, laughed with former Gov. A.B. ``Happy'' Chandler, center, in 1980 at the 100th Fancy Farm Picnic. The event began to draw more statewide and national politicians in the early to mid-1970s. Melissa Farlow, The Courier-Journal

Sharon Cheek, center, held up a sign opposing Sen. Mitch McConnell as she chatted with Eli Pace, editor of the Kentucky New Era, at the Fancy Farm Picnic. Aug. 2, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Journal

Gatewood Galbreath, Independent candidate for Kentucky governor, takes off his hat as he acknowledges supporters at the Fancy Farm Picnic in Graves County, Ky. Galbraith died Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012 at his home in Lexington. He was 64. John Wright AP

Sen. Mitch McConnell, right, held up a selfie photo taken with Governor Steve Beshear at last year's Fancy Farm speech where Beshear predicted that McConnell would retire after losing his senate run against Alison Lundergan Grimes. McConnell reminded Beshear of the photo and said he would continue working as Beshear heads to retirement.
Aug. 1, 2015 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The C-J

Joe Everett of Hopkinsville argued with Abraham Lincoln -- actually Gale Delano of Meade County -- over the solution on rising gas prices as the two with thousands of others attended the Fancy Farm picnic in rural Western Kentucky Saturday afternoon. August 2, 2008 Matt Stone/Courier Journal

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Jamie Comer, left, announced that he would be a candidate for governor during the Fancy Farm Picnic as his wife Tamara Jo Comer looked on. Aug. 2, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Journal

Gov. Steve Beshear took out his cell phone to take a photo of himself with U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell as a reminder before he said that Alison Lundergan Grimes would retire the senator at the Fancy Farm Picnic. Aug. 2, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Journal

Paul Johnson dresses as George Washington when he attends political rallies and speeches. "You can have the best message in the world, but if nobody hears it you don't have anything. This suit draws a crowd. I believe I have one more solid fight in me. I hope Donald Trump beats Hillary Clinton like a redded mule. She lied to the American people. She needs to be in jail." Matt Stone/Courier Journal

Jimmy Pelphrey of Carter County says he's an independent. He's only wearing a Donald Trump to hold his tie in place on his $5 Goodwill suit. "I'm not voting for Trump. If Donald Trump gets elected, I don't care how high he builds that damn wall I'm going over it." Matt Stone/Courier Journal

"People are sweating here today like Matt Bevin at a KEA meeting," said Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes Saturday afternoon at the Fancy Farm picnic in Fancy Farm, Ky. "Everybody needs to go in there with thick skin," Grimes said after she made a joke about Rand Paul earlier. Matt Stone, Courier Journal

Hilda McGee and her daughter Kendra Waggoner play bingo at the Fancy Farm picnic Saturday morning. The two have been coming to the St. Jerome Catholic Church picnic their whole lives. Matt Stone, Courier Journal

Fancy Farm political picnic organizer Mark Wilson has seen some of Kentucky's best rivalries at the annual St. Jerome Catholic Church fundraiser.

In modern times, he said, Bluegrass titans such as Democrat Wendell Ford jousted with Republican Marlow Cook during the Watergate era.

Amid the Reagan Revolution a decade later, a Jefferson County executive named Mitch McConnell, a moderate Republican in those days, was running a guerrilla-style campaign against Democratic incumbent Dee Huddleston for U.S. Senate.

In 2003, Republican Ernie Fletcher and Democrat Ben Chandler showcased one of the closest gubernatorial battlesat the Graves County village.

As Bevin and Beshear, the state's attorney general, prepare to take the stage at Fancy Farm on Saturday, their respective campaigns are expressing confidence ahead of the pilgrimage to far-Western Kentucky. Both candidates believe they best represent the Purchase Region's values, but they are coming at it from different directions.

"I know Andy's going to talk a lot about how his family is from Western Kentucky, but he abandoned Western Kentucky the same way the Democratic Party did," Bevin campaign manager Davis Paine told the Courier Journal. "Their values now don't represent the people out there in rural Kentucky."

Beshear's campaign takes umbrage with that characterization, and says Kentuckians want to talk more about protecting public employee retirement benefits, Medicaid expansion and improving public schools.

"Andy's family has deep family roots right there in Western Kentucky, and if you look at past results, the Beshears have always run well there," said Eric Hyers, who is running Beshear's campaign. "And to us it's about values: faith, family and hard work. That's who Andy is, and I think his values are Western Kentucky's values."

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More than four decades ago, the late Republican Gov. Louie B. Nunn once lamented how the GOP was outnumbered at Fancy Farm. He noted that if one Democrat "didn't get you, another will" and that newspaper reporters would write up how they "hoot and holler and yell for the Democrats" while Republicans are ignored.

Those days are long gone for Democrats, who no longer hold the region's 1st Congressional District seat, and at the state level have only a handful of legislators.

In 2016, few Democrats showed up to the event and many were speculating the picnic would become a solely GOP affair.

But Beshear's campaign is hoping that can be turned around because of high name recognition in the region mixed with an emphasis on kitchen table issues.

Beshear will be making his third consecutive stop at Fancy Farm and appears eager to tussle with the governor. New polling from Morning Consult shows Bevin's approval rating has continued its trek into the negative.

"Excited to go to Fancy Farm," Beshear said in a June 27 tweet. "See you there, Matt Bevin."

"I've been hearing a lot of stuff about how Democrats plan to 'take back Fancy Farm' this year, but that's going to be a bit difficult simply because there's not a Democrat legislator elected within 100 miles of Fancy Farm," Paine said.

"We're going to run on our own record without just touting the relationship they have," Paine said. "But it is a significant benefit for Kentucky, because I've been sitting in the room when the president has called the governor and vice versa. They work well together, and clearly, by the jobs we've created, it is proof of that."

The Beshear campaign is keeping a hands-off approach in criticizing Trump. Instead, it will play up its candidate's rural roots — his father, former Gov. Steve Beshear, is from the region — ahead of Saturday.

Beshear plans to open his first field office of the general election in Paducah ahead of the annual picnic, according to campaign officials.

And the attorney general will promote his support among labor leaders and teachers, who have been waiting for years to take a bite at Bevin for his controversial comments aimed at them.

"To us and to Andy, the issues that really matter to people including in Western Kentucky are pensions, public schools, quality health care and good jobs," Hyers said. "These are all things this governor has failed miserably on and these are Andy's priorities that people in the Purchase Region really care about, and the candidate right on those issues is really going to do well there."